Fun With Playing With the Fabric of Reality
by Calcitrix
Summary: A wee late, but still a Halloween story. Flint, Lady Jaye, Duke, Scarlett, etc.
1. Chapter 1

**October 28**

**Colorado River Basin near Las Vegas, Nevada**

"Tripwire, I swear if you touch that device you're going on KP duty for a month," Flint hissed in the near-darkness of the lab. He pulled his night-vision goggles down as the dim emergency lighting came on.

"But I have to check it, Flint. Cobra may have booby-trapped it." The flickering lights surrounding the machine reflected against Tripwire's helmet as he moved closer to the table. The device itself was about the size of a soccer ball, and appeared to be made of a slick, dark metal.

"Scan it, then. But don't touch it. We still don't know what it does." Flint turned back to the doorway and motioned the rest of his team in. Lady Jaye headed directly for the file cabinets at the side of the room, and Roadblock took up a guard position near the door.

Flint caught Airtight's sleeve as the man entered and silently gestured toward Tripwire. Lowering his voice, he advised, "I'd stay back until he's done. If that thing isn't explosive, you can have a quick look for any other hazards, but we need to head out sooner rather than later."

Airtight smiled. "Aw, Cobra pretty much let us walk right into this facility. We could probably throw a slumber party and they wouldn't notice."

"Yeah, and that worries me," Flint replied. "Why aren't they protecting their so-called 'death device' better?" Something didn't feel right about this. Aside from the single intercepted Cobra message, which was even more melodramatic than usual, the Joe team hadn't heard a peep about the new device Cobra had developed. No missing scientists, no research facilities broken into lately, and no storehouses ransacked for components. It didn't add up.

Flint looked over as Tripwire signaled the all-clear. Airtight exchanged places with him and began his own complicated scans.

"Nothing, Flint," Tripwire reported, packing his gear. "There aren't any explosives around it. We'll have to take it apart later to be sure, but it doesn't look like it's meant to blow up."

"And these research notes don't make sense," Lady Jaye added, walking over with a stack of files. "There are pages here about chlorophytes, radiation, meteorites, calcification, and salt water…but what do you get when you mix those?"

"Giant mutant alien algae?" Tripwire suggested with a shrug.

Flint shook his head, unable to give a better answer. Airtight motioned from across the room and said, "It's all clear. Want me to bring it?"

"Yes, but carefully, please." The team fell in behind Flint as they retraced their steps through the Cobra facility, everything as quiet on the way out as it had been on the way in.


	2. Chapter 2

**October 30**

**G.I. Joe Headquarters**

Flint stood in the small, concrete-reinforced room in the deepest section of headquarters, watching the last test being run on the device. So far, it hadn't responded to anything they'd done to it. It didn't contain anything biological, radioactive, or explosive, and it didn't have a timer, a remote, or an "on" switch. Mainframe, Airtight, Tripwire, and Dial-Tone had all declared it completely harmless.

"Looks like we broke into that facility for nothing," Lady Jaye commented. She looked up from the computer screen, which showed a set of numbers as the test drew to a finish. "I wish all Cobra weapons were this useless."

"They must not have had time to finish it," Duke said, watching as Mainframe disconnected a set of wires that ran to a diagnostic device.

"Well, we could always use it as a paperweight," Mainframe joked. "That's about all it's good for."

"Let's not take any chances," Duke replied. "This goes into locked storage immediately."

Lady Jaye stood and stretched. "I'll take it," she volunteered. "I'd just have to go down there to catalog it later anyway."

"I'll go with you," Flint said quickly. The device made him feel uneasy, despite the others' conclusions. He wasn't about to leave Lady Jaye alone with it, especially not in a remote, closed-in section of the base.

"All right," she replied, giving him a smile. Mainframe handed the device to her, almost dropping it as his thick gloves slipped on the surface. She took it carefully and held it away from her, angling it to view it from all sides. "Not much to it, is there? Oh, well. To the graveyard with you."

They headed through the winding hallways, brightly lit and sterile, toward the storage facility where all of the other captured, failed, and destroyed Cobra weapons were kept. Flint used his passkey to open the door, which whisked open with a puff of stale air.

The room was filled with covered, unsettling shapes. It was called the graveyard, not only because of the contents, but also because the grey-draped machines looked like tombstones lined up against the walls and on the shelves at the back of the room. Flint shivered, thinking of how close it was to Halloween. He enjoyed the costumes and candy, but the darker, creepier side of the holiday had always intrigued him.

Lady Jaye finished writing a number on a piece of cloth, then threw it unceremoniously over the device. "Done," she said cheerfully. "Let's go see if Roadblock's finished baking those cookies yet." She hooked her arm around his and tugged him toward the door. Flint gave one backward look before pulling it shut with relief.

He looked down at her and gave her a crooked grin. "Doesn't anything faze you?"

"Like what?"

"Like a creepy dark room full of doomsday devices?"

She laughed and pulled him down the hallway. "Put me out in the middle of a moor on Halloween night and you'll see me jumping at every breeze, believe me. I grew up with stories of hauntings and evil creatures, but none of them ever took place on a military base."

Flint fell into step with her, feeling more cheerful the farther they got from the storage room. "You know a lot of ghost stories? I'd love to hear some."

"Cookies first. Maybe cocoa. Then stories." Lady Jaye punched the button for the elevator and settled comfortably against him to wait.

He couldn't resist leaning down to nuzzle the exposed part of her neck in his favorite spot just above her collar. "Could they be _bedtime_ ghost stories?"

He felt her laugh vibrate through her throat. "Bedtime ghost stories it is."

"Nothing too scary; I don't want to be up all night," he murmured against her skin.

"Mmmm…I think you do," she replied, pulling away as the elevator opened.

**0600 hours**

**October 31**

**G.I. Joe Headquarters**

Flint winced inwardly as Beach Head strode out to the obstacle course. It was far too early for a PT session; he hadn't gotten much sleep, and the one cup of coffee he'd managed before being ordered out to the course hadn't been enough.

"What's the matter with you this morning? Y'all look like a pack of zombies!" Beach head near-bellowed in disgust.

"That's because your announcement this morning was loud enough to wake the dead," Shipwreck joked. His jaw cracked in a huge yawn. "I thought we got holidays off."

"Halloween isn't a holiday," Beach Head replied in disgust. "Ghosts, candy, and costumes…phaw."

"Says the man who wears a mask every day," Lady Jaye quipped.

Flint hid his smile as the drill instructor turned on them with a scowl. "You know how this works. Once through and back again, then regroup for critiques." He held out a stopwatch. "GO!"

Flint took off running, outdistancing Shipwreck, Alpine, and Bazooka. Lady Jaye paced him easily, but she slowed as they approached the wall, letting him take lead. Flint leapt and grabbed the top edge, yelling a curse as it broke off in his hand and dumped him back on the ground.

Lady Jaye was at his side in an instant. "Flint! What happened?"

"He fell!" Shipwreck laughed, coming to a panting halt with the others.

Flint looked down at the piece in his hand, gasping a little to get his breath back. "It just…broke." The piece felt brittle and not at all like wood.

"If that had been Bazooka, I could understand," Alpine laughed. "Guess you should hit the gym more often."

"Impossible!" Beach Head fumed, taking the piece from his hand. "This isn't wood. But what _is_ it?"

Lady Jaye broke a small chunk from the corner and examined it. She took a careful sniff, then popped the piece in her mouth and chewed. "It's chocolate," she said.

"What?!" Beach Head exclaimed, looking up wide-eyed at the wall. "The whole thing's chocolate!"

"Cool," Bazooka said, reaching out to break off another piece. He bit into it and his face lit up. "Semi-sweet."

"Don't eat my obstacle course!" Beach Head ordered, striding around the wall to examine the rest.

Flint stood and followed with the others. Either someone had played a mighty prank or something very odd was going on.

The rest of the course was in a similar state of transformation. The pool was now filled with caramel, the rope swings were made of taffy, and the tires turned out to be licorice. "Cobra is gonna pay for this!" Beach Head shook his fist at the sky and stormed off.

The rest of them stood in a silent group, staring around them in wonder. "I guess PT has been cancelled," Lady Jaye commented with a grin.


	3. Chapter 3

**0700 Hours**

Over breakfast, the obstacle course was the main topic of conversation. It took some convincing for the other Joes to take Beach Head and the others seriously; they assumed it was a Halloween prank, getting them to believe such an incredible story. The incredulity was put to rest when most of them finally trooped out to see for themselves.

"That's a bizarre angle, even for Cobra," Duke commented, pulling on a taffy rope swing. "Why would they do that?"

"Maybe they meant to turn the entire base into something they could more easily attack," Scarlett suggested, "and it just didn't work very well."

Duke nodded. "Let's put the base on alert, just in case."

**0800 Hours**

A terrified wail echoed through the corridors, causing the Joes near the pool area to come running. They met Torpedo and Wet Suit as the two stumbled through the doorway and into the hall. "Don't go in there!" Torpedo yelled. "There's some kind of monster in the pool!"

Flint exchanged an uneasy glance with Duke. Apparently the odd occurrences weren't limited to the outside of the base. They entered cautiously, a group of Joes following behind.

Wet Suit pointed at the water, where a pair of bulgy eyes protruded above the surface. "There!"

"What is that—a crocodile?" Duke asked skeptically, moving closer. He crouched a safe distance from the edge of the pool, trying to see the creature's body. There was a surge of water, and a dark shape lunged in his direction. Flint hauled him out of the way by his collar, and they landed in a soaked heap on the tiles. The creature—it was definitely not a crocodile—had the body of a horse, but with huge, rather fearsome teeth.

"Oh, wow," Lady Jaye said into the sudden silence as the creature settled back into its new lair, "it's a kelpie."

"A what?" Duke asked, trying to stand on the slippery floor.

"A Scottish fairy," she replied quietly. "Needless to say, it will try to drown you."

"Yeah," Torpedo said, "I gathered that."

The group backed out of the room and huddled in the hallway. Everyone wanted to know what was going on, and neither Flint nor Duke had an answer for them. "Everyone be careful until we figure this out," Duke ordered rather unnecessarily.

**1000 Hours**

Beach Head stormed into Duke's office, fuming. "What in the sam hill is going on around here?" he demanded.

Flint sighed. "What is it now?"

"There's a…a…ghost in the hallway outside of my office, and she just keeps wailing and screeching! I tried throwing my stapler at her, but it went right through." The drill instructor looked a little wild around the eyes to Flint. And no wonder. It was the third "ghost" report in the last hour, and everyone's nerves were on edge.

"Sit down, Beach," Duke suggested. "And have some coffee." He held up his hand to ward off a protest. "I know it doesn't help with the ghost, but it will help you." He gestured to the huge pile of papers on the desk between him and Flint. "In fact, you can help us. We're reading all the old reports on Cobra activity, trying to see if there's a pattern here."

Beach Head sat down with a muttered, "Hrmph," but picked up a file nonetheless.

Flint stared at his own stack, but he was doing more thinking than reading. Nothing about the day's events seemed connected—not even in the way that they had happened. If it had been only ghosts and monsters, he wouldn't question Cobra's involvement, but the obstacle course threw him for a loop. _Why?_

**1200 Hours**

Flint sat down to lunch with Lady Jaye, no closer to an answer than he had been before. Reports of ghosts and ghouls were coming in from every corner of the base. No one had been hurt—yet—but sightings were becoming more frequent as the day wore on.

Shipwreck plopped his tray down on the table next to them, and Flint did a double take at the sight. "What happened to you?" he asked in amazement. Shipwreck's hair, including his beard, was knotted into little braids all over his head.

"Ungh," the sailor muttered. "Something did it while I was taking a nap." He dejectedly lifted the fork to his mouth.

"Queen Mab," Lady Jaye laughed. "'Plaits the manes of horses in the night, and bakes the elf-locks in foulsluttish hairs, which once untangled much misfortune bodes.'" She gave a braid a quick yank. "Yeah, I'd describe your hair as 'foulsluttish.'"

Flint narrowed his eyes at her. "Shakespeare, right?" He examined Shipwreck's hair critically. "This is just too weird."

"Well, everyone on base has had an encounter of one kind or another," Shipwreck said, resuming his meal.

"I haven't, and Lady Jaye hasn't either." Flint looked at her and shrugged. "Nothing actually directed at me, anyway."

"Nope," she confirmed. "No skeletons jumping out of my closet." She scanned the other Joes in the cafeteria, and shook her head. "At least it's been fairly harmless. What a Halloween!"

"You don't think these are _real_ hauntings?" Scarlett asked, joining them at the table.

"I dunno—was the base built on an old Indian burial ground?" Lady Jaye replied with a chuckle.

"She's only laughing 'cause nothing's targeted her yet," Shipwreck said between bites.

"Oh, come on, it's kind of neat." Lady Jaye protested.

"Neat?" Shipwreck sputtered. "You're crazy!"

"But it's Halloween!" She pointed to another ghost as it floated through the ceiling above them. "And we've got real ghosts everywhere. This is a story to tell your grandchildren!"

Something she said nagged at Flint's memory, but it was gone before he could grasp it. Was it something to do with grandchildren? He couldn't place it.


	4. Chapter 4

**1400 Hours**

"This is getting ridiculous," Duke said, swatting at a small winged fairy as it dive-bombed him. "We need to figure this out NOW."

Flint, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, and Beach Head sat in Duke's office, keeping a wary eye out for anything moving where it shouldn't be. The ghosts and other creatures had been joined by what Lady Jaye identified as goblins and bogies, all of them tricksters. Several of the Joes had been startled, to say the least, when they grabbed a phone or a coffee cup, only to have it turn into anything from a frog to a handful of goo a moment later. One of them had stolen Beach Head's balaclava, and something had turned all of the movies on base into copies of "The Sound of Music."

"I'm going to contact Hawk," Duke said wearily. "I should have done it first thing this morning, but I was sure he'd think I'm crazy." A small fairy landed on his head and giggled. He ignored it. "Let's split up. Flint, you take the ladies and dig through all of the files we haven't read yet. Beach Head, find Mainframe and see if he can find anything—_anything _unusual in our computer or electronics systems. I've already got Airtight and a few others looking for strange substances, and Snake Eyes is leading a team into the lower floors, um…just in case."

Flint sensed that while Duke voiced the opinion that Cobra was behind the events of the day, he couldn't ignore the possibility that there was another source. He was beginning to wonder, himself. It _was_ Halloween…

**1500 Hours**

"There's nothing here," Scarlett said, rubbing her temples. "Cobra's had a lot of weapons over the years, but nothing that could do all of this at once."

"That caramel pond reminded me of the Games Master," Lady Jaye suggested, shuffling through another stack of papers.

Flint looked up and shook his head. "He built that on his own island so that he could be in control of every part of our environment. Besides, he liked to watch, and it doesn't explain the ghosts."

"Maybe he _is_ watching," Scarlett said, looking worriedly around the room. "Did Breaker or Mainframe find anything odd?"

"Nothing," Flint replied. He paused, wracking his brain for anything that might be connected. "The only thing that stands out is that device we brought in from the lab the other day."

"But the guys agreed it couldn't do anything," Lady Jaye said. "It wasn't even very big—everything else Cobra has made has been ten times the size."

"Let's check it out, anyway." Flint closed the file in front of him and stood, grabbing his passkey off the desk. Lady Jaye and Scarlett followed him to the elevator, and they entered as soon as the doors opened.

"Uh, Flint…there's no button for the basement," Scarlett pointed out. "It must have changed the elevator."

Lady Jaye stabbed the 'door open' button, breathing an audible sigh of relief when they hissed open again. Flint followed the women out, thinking. There were stairs down, of course, but if the device was protecting itself somehow, he doubted they would be accessible.

They tried anyway. The stairs were there, but there was no door at the bottom, only a wide expanse of concrete cinder block. "I hope Snake Eyes isn't down there," Scarlett said, a worried frown on her face.

"Okay, so…what now?" Lady Jaye asked. "Obviously it's the device. How do we get to it?"

Flint had no answer.

**1600 Hours**

Flint finally found Duke and Mainframe in the maintenance garage. They were scanning the walls with a small device, frowning in concentration.

"You can stop with all that," Flint told them. "It _is_ Cobra." He explained about the device, and the now-inaccessible storage room.

Mainframe was nodding, brows furrowed as he worked it out. "It's possible that the device activated the other machines in the storage room when you put it down there."

"You mean all of the other Cobra weapons--?" Duke asked in alarm.

"Probably not all of them," Mainframe mused. "What's down there?"

Duke and Flint listed everything they could remember. "And then there's the Matter Transmutor," Duke said. "It wasn't built to open portals into other worlds—that was an accident. It was meant to, uh, transmute matter."

"Which would explain the obstacle course," Flint agreed. "What about the McGuffin Device? Don't we still have that thing sitting around?"

"And last time it brought all of Shipwreck's fairytale creatures to life." Duke began to pace. "It sure makes sense. But I don't understand one thing—if that latest thingamabob didn't have a power source, how did it turn everything else on?"

"I think I know," Mainframe said excitedly. "The human body has a tiny amount of electricity running through it. The device might have been designed to switch on when that current ran through it. And then it sent out a short transmission to anything else within range. Once the other machines turned on, they would run on their own power sources."

Duke nodded. "Right. It must have turned on when you were running tests on it."

"Not me," Mainframe protested. "I had gloves on. So did Airtight and Tripwire, I think."

"Who else touched it, then?" Duke frowned.

Flint felt a jolt run through him. "Lady Jaye did." It all made sense now. What he had been trying to recall earlier were the stories Lady Jaye had told him—all passed down from her Scottish grandfather—about the Unseelie Court and the denizens of fairie. The creatures running around the base were all from her head.

"So these ghosts are hers," Duke mused. "Which is why they haven't actually hurt anyone. And the PT course..." His eyes widened. "We're living in a reality controlled by Lady Jaye."

"Oh, wow," Mainframe whispered. "So what do we do? We can't get to the device…"

"So we'd better convince Lady Jaye to make all of these creatures disappear," Duke concluded grimly.


	5. Chapter 5

**1630 Hours**

Flint knocked on the door to Lady Jaye's office, but there was no answer. He was sure she was in there, though; he could hear voices within. He glanced at Duke, who nodded. They recognized the second voice: Flint's. He eased the door open and looked in.

Lady Jaye stood with her back to the door, facing another Flint. At least, something close to another Flint. This one was a little taller, a little broader in the shoulders. His beret was angled perfectly across his head and his eyes shone a nearly impossible blue. Flint felt a pang of jealousy at this other version of himself, which quickly turned to anger as his doppelganger said something in a quiet voice that made her laugh, then leaned in to kiss her.

"Hands off, buster!" Flint balled his fists as Lady Jaye turned in surprise.

"Flint? But—" she turned back to his double, but it merely gave her a knowing wink and disappeared.

"What was _that_?" Lady Jaye backed up a step from the now empty space and reached out for Flint's hand. He took it gratefully and pulled her close.

"That was the 'Flint' inside your head," Duke replied with a laugh. Seeing her bewildered expression, he explained what they had worked out about the device.

"This is all my fault?" she asked in a quiet voice. "How do I get it to stop?"

Before Flint could answer, the base alarm sounded an attack.

The three of them raced to the weapons room and out the doors. All of the Joes were gathering outside or readying vehicles to defend the base. Most of them were accompanied by small flittering creatures, wispy ghosts, goblins, and even an ogre or two.

"So this _was_ a Cobra plot," Flint said through clenched teeth. "How are we supposed to fight with pixies pulling our hair and taking apart our weapons?"

A slow grin spread over Lady Jaye's face. "Oh, they did _not_ think this through very well."

As the Cobra planes neared the base, the entire body of fairies and ghosts lifted as one into the air. With a screechy battle cry, they sped toward the planes. One by one, the Rattlers dropped from the sky as their engines turned into something that oozed in a melted trail down the sides of the metal—chocolate again, Flint supposed. The Trouble Bubbles wobbled and fell as ghosts passed through the pilots, and the Night Ravens began to smoke as the fairies tore pieces from them.

The Joes began to cheer. Lady Jaye kept her eyes focused on the scene, and Flint could see the effort it took to actively control the creatures. "Cobra should've learned not to mess with this stuff by now," she muttered.

As quickly as it had begun, it was over. Flint leaned in and kissed Lady Jaye soundly, much to the amusement of the fairies, who crowded around them and gave a cheer of their own.

**2000 Hours**

Mainframe poked his head into Duke's office and declared, "They're still here."

Flint saw Lady Jaye's shoulders slump, and he rubbed her back in commiseration. "Obviously trying to imagine away your fairie host isn't working." In fact, the numbers had continued to increase since the Cobra attack. "Just try to think about the door to the basement reappearing," he suggested. "At least we could turn off the devices."

"I'm trying," she nearly wailed. "I can't control it anymore."

"She's too tired," Scarlett said, walking in to sit on the corner of Duke's desk. "If it makes you feel any better, the guys are having a great time now that they know what's going on. And a huge table of food appeared in the cafeteria a few minutes ago. Your subconscious is telling you to eat, apparently." Her eyebrows drew together. "Although I hesitate to ask what got changed into the food."

Lady Jaye gave her a weak smile. "Thanks, Scarlett. I guess I am hungry. And I'm assuming it's all my favorites?"

Scarlett wrinkled her nose. "It's mostly Scottish food. Well, that and a lot of chocolate cake."

Flint pulled Lady Jaye to her feet and pushed her gently toward the door. "Well, we might as well enjoy ourselves until we figure this out."

The cafeteria had been completely transformed. The walls seemed to have disappeared, leaving the room looking out upon a foggy Scottish landscape. Lights twinkled on and off in various colors throughout the room, and everywhere Flint looked there were ghosts, goblins, and all manner of odd creatures. For the most part, they had stopped pestering the other Joes, though one little brown man was leading Beach Head on a merry chase between the tables, the drill instructor's balaclava clutched in its hand.

"Wow," Flint whispered in awe. He nudged Lady Jaye and pointed at the full moon that shone between the clouds where the ceiling should be. "I admit, you have a flair for decorating," he laughed.

"Hey, Lady Jaye!" Shipwreck called through the crowd. "Can you think me up some company?" He winked and waggled his eyebrows, and nearly jumped out of his skin as an old, haggard woman appeared next to him. He recoiled in alarm, but the hag cackled and gripped his wrist, pulling him into an area that had been cleared for dancing.

Scarlett giggled, then gave a start of surprise as a rugged, red-haired man with a crown appeared next to her. "My lady," he bowed, offering his arm. Scarlett raised an eyebrow at Lady Jaye, then shrugged and let the man lead her off to the dance floor.

"Uh, Jaye," Flint said quietly, "Your subconscious knows this can only last until midnight, right?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, that's true. Once Halloween is over, the Fairie Court returns to its underground kingdom." She gave him a wry smile and worked her way over to the food table to pass the news on to Duke.

Duke turned and spotted Flint. "So all we have to do is wait it out?" he asked, threading past a group of leprechauns and carrying a plate piled high with food. He paused, surveying the incredible scene and frowning as he spotted Scarlett dancing with the fairie prince. "This can't be over soon enough to suit me."

"I almost forgot. Did you ever get through to Hawk?" Flint asked.

Duke scowled. "He laughed his head off and hung up on me," he admitted. He took a bite of cake and nudged Flint in the ribs. "That other Flint was pretty fantastic," he teased. "All buff and everything. He must have had at least three inches on you. And that hair--!"

"Shut up, Duke," Flint muttered, blushing.

"Oh, come on. Surely you're flattered to know that's how Lady Jaye thinks of you."

The blush crept down Flint's neck. "Prolly how she wishes I was," he said, too quietly for Duke to hear. He continued in a normal voice, "Well, it all seems to have worked out, anyway. This is the best Halloween party I've ever been to." He watched as Beach Head scrambled under a table, almost—but not quite—managing to grab his mask.

"And later we can get to the storage room and turn off those blasted machines," Duke said emphatically. He wandered over to where Snake Eyes was playing chess with one of the more human looking fairies and sat down to watch.

Flint joined Lady Jaye at a table as she nibbled on some kind of meat pie. He watched her follow the flight of a group of fairies across the room, a contented smile on her face. "This is exactly how Halloween should be," she said, leaning against his arm with a sigh.

"Um, Jaye," Flint said, clearing his throat. "About that other Flint…is that how you really see me?" He stood and tugged her toward the dance floor.

"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning. "That was you down to a 'T.'"

"Are you kidding? He was—" Flint stopped, and shook his head. He pulled her against him. "Never mind," he whispered, hiding a smile.

**2400 Hours**

The base was quiet, almost shockingly so compared to the riotous party that had ended at midnight. As they had hoped, everything returned to normal once Halloween was over. Flint watched as Beach Head cheerfully crushed the device under his boot heel and Mainframe permanently disconnected the power source to every machine in the room.

Flint pulled a sleepy Lady Jaye down the hall as the rest of them departed for their beds. She looked wistfully back at the door, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile. "Maybe the obstacle course will still be made of candy tomorrow," she murmured hopefully.


End file.
